A THOUSAND YARDS OF SEA

In the manner of Cecil and Clark's three other thematic anthologies (e.g., Boo!, 1990), seven poems and six stories, virtually all from well-known sources, though the selections (e.g., Thackeray's verging-on-gruesome ``Little Billee'') are often less familiar than the authors (including Lear, Mahy, Farjeon, and Kipling). Adäle Geras's title story—a mermaid barters for freedom with a commodity that, on shore, becomes the silky stuff now called taffeta—is typical of the light, fantastical spirit, as well as the high quality of the humor and imagination. A couple of unusual stories are especially welcome: a whimsical Czech tale about the boy Jonah, who has a comical encounter with a whale, and the editor's retelling of a Venetian story about an enchanted crab. Clark's beautifully painted, charmingly witty watercolors add to the humor on almost every well-designed page. (Anthology. 4-10)